Background
I began programming in BASIC about 28 years ago.
When I began server-side programming for the Web I thought that Microsoft’s ASP was the way to go. Back then I usually worked on a dedicated or co-located server and IIS made it easy to get full control over bulk emailing, FTPing, headers, redirects, etc.
But working on shared servers I quickly got hooked on PHP and stopped working in ASP. The ease of string manipulation, ability to create clean code, and of course the open-source nature, were all appealing.
Approach
Windows: ASP.NET
These days when I take on an ASP.NET I manage the project while one or more of my programmers does the programming. I identify the parts of the project that are more efficient to group together, balance that with the top priorities for the site, set the client’s expectations, set up a proper bug tracking and version control system, and weigh in with the client and programmer to keep ahead of schedule and minimize problems.
Over the past ten years I’ve refined the process of hiring programmers, after a number of unsatisfying experiences with contractors, and that’s ended up working very well. I’ve also learned the hard way how to ensure that a project is set up for success: getting enough buy-in from the client and their IT team, ensuring that any external programming groups are happy being managed by me and that they understand the relationship, and ensuring that I have the authority from the client needed to be an effective manager.
Linux: PHP
What’s changed the game the most, over the past two years, for PHP programmers is the imrpovement in the major open source content management systems (CMSs). WordPress (as of version 2.5), Joomla (as of version 1.5), and Drupal (as of version 6.0) have become mature products that are fast, secure, easily customized, and make client changes to their Web sites simple. Improvements in PHP and MySQL and in the hosting package control panels have been much more gradual in my opinion.
This site uses WordPress which is good for sites with lots of content updates but without a custom graphical design. Apart from being the natural choice for a blog site, WordPress has, I believe, more choice for free Web site templates (which it offers on its site unlike Joomla) and maybe a better and larger collection of plugins. But customizing a Web site template or developing one from scratch requires some work.
WordPress and Joomla tie, in my opinion, for style sheet complexity, for the usefulness of their proprietary helper (server-side) languages, and for the structure of the data in MySQL. In fact they’re set up very similarly in these regards.
However, I think that Joomla is really the best CMS for most sites. It has an excellent, super-flexible menu system, very easy-to-program modules and templates (the template layout is simpler in Joomla than WordPress but also mroe flexible and the required files are fewer), and a very easy installation system (for modules, plugins, and templates). The FCKEditor plugin is just a great adaptation of the excellent WYSIWYG editor (it’s good in WordPress too though not as up-to-date). Finally, a very small issue but a time-saver in the long run, with Joomla you have the option of saving a page and returning to the listing of pages in one click. WordPress takes two and sometimes a lot of scrolling.
Drupal is the preferred CMS for large Web sites and is favored among many of the experienced PHP programmers out there. It’s a lot less popular in general than Joomla or WordPress because of the steep learning curve and the relatively small actual benefit to development (and more difficult client maintenance of a typical site). Personally I spend less time and have more flexibility when I program a CMS from scratch than when I use Drupal. Though I may not be a good enough programmer to fully leverage its advantages. Drupal is pretty slick: it allows a user to drag-and-drop the different sections of the Web site ("blocks") around the admin screen for example. But for me it has too little structure and too much to learn to be a time-saver.
I am myself not a great programmer. There are probably thousands of more talented PHP programmers in the Bay Area.
But I probably have a broader skill set and a more professional background than the vast majority. I’m pretty good at HTML and JavaScript and fine at CSS. Good at Photoshop (for image editing) and Sony Vegas (for video editing) and fine with Flash (including some experience with AS2 and AS3). I have encountered most of the quirky problems that cause programmers to pull their hair out, and can find solutions quickly.
The real differentiator though is that I’m reliable and responsible, know how to schedule a project and update my client, and I can speak to a CEO as easily as a hard core programmer.
